LONDON, Nov. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- EY today announces that it is working together with SAP to further advance deployment of blockchain across industries worldwide. Under their existing alliance relationship, the organizations are collaborating to integrate blockchain applications and services with the SAP® Leonardo digital innovation system to help accelerate enterprises' implementation of blockchain across their business operations.

EY Ops Chain, which is designed for customers to use to simplify supply chain management, is one of the first blockchain-based solutions that will be integrated on SAP Leonardo. Using EY Ops Chain, companies will be able to tightly integrate digital contracts, shared inventory and logistics information, pricing, invoicing and payments. This will improve forecast accuracy and fulfillment performance while reducing working capital requirements.

SAP Leonardo helps simplify innovating with new technologies and incorporates them into a customer's business with full scalability. The digital innovation system encompasses services and technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning and blockchain. SAP Leonardo can transform "systems of record" — back-end systems, like enterprise resource systems (ERP) or customer relationship management (CRM), focused on managing workflow, business processes and records — into "systems of intelligence" that automatically detect, interpret and act upon large amounts of data.

Paul Brody, EY Global Innovation Leader, Blockchain Technology, says:

"Blockchains are quickly becoming routine tools for business processing that companies can use to manage and take action from the huge amounts of data their systems collect and process. This data is often collected across a disconnected, fragmented infrastructure. EY Ops Chain on SAP Leonardo will help companies quickly develop and deploy blockchain solutions that connect business operations across their systems, on a platform already widely used by companies worldwide."

Saurabh Gupta, Chief Strategy Officer, HfS Research, says:

"Blockchain use cases are expanding to almost every vertical as enterprises realize its potential to create more distributed, equitable and more 'tamper-proof' business models. EY's holistic understanding of a blockchain-based business strategy, combined with SAP Leonardo's digital innovation capabilities, is a significant step forward in the deployment of blockchain for supply chain. Collaboration between industry leaders like EY and SAP will be essential to fulfilling the promise of blockchain."

Juergen Mueller, SAP Chief Innovation Officer, says:

"Blockchain helps deliver secure and simplified data sharing in complex multi-party processes. With SAP Leonardo, we provide a toolbox for our customers to access and innovate with all the latest technologies, such as SAP Leonardo Blockchain capabilities. By joining forces with EY, we will work together on blockchain use cases for our customers to help them streamline their complex transactions in the digital economy."